$2 million ‘icing’

By Monique Ebrington
WANDIN Yallock Primary School received a $2 million ‘icing on the cake’ in the budget delivered by the State Government.
Wandin Yallock Primary is this year celebrating its 140th birthday and the recently announced Victorian Schools Plan funding will support a major facelift of its buildings.
The primary school is one of six small, rural schools to share in a pool of $10.5 million as part of the ‘Secure the Future of Small Rural Schools’ initiative.
Wandin Yallock Primary School principal Christine Shiel said the school community was “thrilled” by the funding announcement.
Ms Shiel said the school had long planned to do redevelopment work.
“For a long while, we’ve been showing we are ready for new facilities and we clearly demonstrated the need and urgency for these changes to secure funding,” Ms Shiel said. “As we’ve worked on concepts with architects, we keep getting closer and closer to really imagining what these buildings will look like and how they will function and this $2 million will go a long way towards realising that vision.”
She said the aim of the school’s redevelopment was to create a modern and environmentally conscious teaching centre for students, while retaining the historic value of the school.
“What we have come up with is a learning hub of seven classrooms and the ‘nerve centre’, which will be the administration area,” she said.“The redevelopment incorporates the original school, and works around retaining the classroom built in 1944, which is the only building with real architectural merit.”
Ms Shiel said the new classrooms would be modern in design and function, allowing for teachers to be more fluid in their teaching styles and locations, with the new design catering for outdoor learning area.
She said the new buildings have also been designed to consider both energy consumption and the environment.
The environmental elements within the proposed new buildings will also be complemented within the school’s grounds through the implementation of more than 40 indigenous trees, a herb and vegetable garden, seed propagation area and discovery garden.
The car park will also be redeveloped and a gazebo and amphitheatre will be added.
Ms Shiel said some of the school’s 202 students had contributed towards the project’s consultation process and students would be more excited than distracted, when the major works begin on the school.
She said students had already become accustomed to construction work, with the recent completion of the upgrading of the basketball stadium, which was funded through the National School Pride program.
“The students have already been around construction work through our National School Pride building,” she said.
“Work in the past has not been disruptive, if anything it has been quite stimulating for the students to watch the step-by-step process, and building work has become a pretty natural part of our environment.”
Ms Shiel said she expected the next building project, a Commonwealth funded multi-purpose building, to be finished in September. She is hoping for a series of building projects at the school.